Loading machine



R. P. GREENLEAF LOADING MACHINE Original Filed Jul 17, 1919 4sheets-sheet l &

MT MM Apr, 110, .1923.

31,451,624) R. P; GREENLEAF LOADING MACHINE Original Filgd July 17, 19194 sheets-sheet 2 m m r Apr. 10, 1923. 31,453,026

' R. P. GREENLEAF LOADING MACHINE Original Filed July 17, 1919 4sheets-sheet 4 34 32 37 xi, 35 35 33 3a 37 I J' m /7 ,zezah 7 I in ent II 70 m g Patented Apr. 1Q, 1923.

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ROBERT P. GBEENLEAF, F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK BILLINGS, OFCLEVELAND, OHIO.

LOADING MACHINE.

Application filed July 17, 1919, Serial No. 311,592. Renewed September6, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT P. GREENLEAF, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and 5 State of Ohio,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Loading Machines,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a loading machine of the type wherein materialis transferred from in front of the machine to the rear thereof by meansof a swinging shovel adapted to be thrust forward to receive a load, andthen to be swung rearwardly to dumping position.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an efficient andpractical machine, wherein the shovel is directly connected by swingingarms to a forwardly and rear- 0 wardly movable ram or equivalentreciprocating member, the machine having a moderate forward and rearwardrange of movement through the actuation of the reciprocating member, anda moderate height of swinging movement in passing over the ma- -chine.Further the invention aims to provide a machine of this character withshovel actuating mechanism which positively actuates the shovel at allparts of its cycle of movement, provision being made for adjustmentsnecessary to meet various conditions such as varying depth of cut. Stillfurther the invention aims to provide in a machine of this type,shovelactuating mechanism of such form that the torque or lifting momentexerted on the shovel as it is being turned or swung to dumping positionis substantially proportional to the resistance to movement set up bythe shovel, the turning effort or torque being greatest at and about thetime the resistance to movement is greatest, due to the leverage throughwhich the loaded shovel acts, and being gradually reduced as theleverage of the shovel is reduced while being swung over the machine todumping position.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain noveldetails of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts whichwill be described in the specification and set forth in the appendedclaims.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings, Fig. 1 is a side view of themachine with Serial No. 498,935.

the ram retracted; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the ram xtended and theshovelpartly elevated; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the machine with theram retracted; Fig. 4. is a front view of the machine; and Fig. 5 is aview partly in rear elevation and partly in vertical section.

The machine as here shown, includes a sub-base in the form of a truck10, having wheels 11, designed to run on a track which may be a minetrack, the present machine being especially adapted for use in mines toscoop up material at the front of the machine and to load the same inmine cars run up to the rear of the machine. On this truck is mounted asuperstructure including a frame or intermediate base 12, which in thisinstanc is designed to be swung about a vertical axis to adapt theshovel of the machine to reach material at the sides as well as directlyin front of the machine. To this end the frame 12 has wheels 13 whichengage arc-shaped tracks lt carried by the truck 10.

The ,material movin and conveying element is in th form of a shovel 15,open at the front and provided with a digging edge at its lower frontpart, which digging edge may be provided with teeth if desired. Theshovel 15 is supported by, and direct connected by arms 16, to aforwardly and rearwardly movable member 17 in the form of a carriage orso-called ram, composed chiefly of two spaced parallel channel-shapedmembers 17, (see Figs. 4 and 5) suitably connected so that they willmove back and forth in unison. The arms 16 which connect the shovel tothis ram are in this instance in the form of bell-cranks, these armshaving main portions 16 which at their forward free ends are connectedto the sides of the shovel, and having-relatively short extensions 16which at their free ends are pivotally mounted on studs 18, at the lowerends of brackets 19, which extend. upwardly to, and are secured to thechannel-shaped side members of the ram 17.

The ram 17 is supported for reciprocating movement forwardly andrearwardly with respect to the frame 12, the supporting means consistingin this case of a pair of rear rollers 20, which are carried by the rearends of the ram and travel along stationary outwardly facingchannel-shaped guideways 21, (see Fig. 5) supported in fixed position bythe frame 12, and the supporting means further includes a pair ofshrouded pinions 22 on which the ram runs, these shrouded pinions beingsecured to a crossshaft 28, mounted in the front part of the frame 12.The ram may be actuated, i. e., reciprocated forwardly and rearwardlyvarious types or forms of motors.- In this instance I show a rotary ramactuating motor 24, this motor being supported on the rear part of theframe 12. It is immaterial by what motive power this motor is actuated,but the motor here shown is designed to be an electric reversing motor.

The shaft of this motor has at ts forward end, just beyond the motorhousing, a pinion 25 (see Fig. 3) which drives a pinion 26, secured to aforwardly extending shaft 27 which is laterally displaced from thecenter line of the frame 12, this shaft havnear its forward end a. worm28 which drives a worm-wheel 29 secured to the shaft 23 on which theshrouded pinions 22 already referred to are mounted. The rotation of thefront shaft 28 carry ng the shrouded pinions 22, transmits reciprocatingmovement to the ram through two racks 30 which are secured to the bottomotthe side members l'iflof the ram. Side portions of these racks or rackbars ride over the shrouded portions of the pinions 22, where by thefront part of the rain is supported more or less independently of theracks as is obvious from a consideration of Fig. a which shows the endsof the rack'30 and their relation to the toothed and plain portions ofthe shrouded pinions 22. Thus it will be seen that when the motor isactuated, the ram as a whole, including all parts supported by it, ismoved forwardlypr rearwardly, depending upon the direction in which themotor 24: is actuated.

L The ram carries in addition to the shovel, a motor actuated mechanismfor turning or rotating the shovel separately or simultaneously with thereciprocation thereof, and this mechanism constitutes an important partof the improvement. This mechanism includes a motor which moves with theram, a part which is moved back and forth either with a straightreciprocating move ment or a rotary movement, and an arm or pair of armswhich transmit movement from the forwardly and rearwardly movable partto the shovel supporting a d actuating a-rms. This mechanism may assumediflerent forms. and the motor for actuating it may be of any suitableform'or type, the rotary type of motor being herein illustratediat 3i.This motor is supported above and on the ram through the medium of abase 32 secured to the side members of the rain, and the motor shaft 31'which projects forwardly from the motor housing is supported from andabove the front part of the ram by bearings having diverging legs 33which extend to and are secured to the side members of the ram. Themotor shaft 31" in this instance is provided with a worm M, which drivesa worm-wheel 85 secured to a shaft 36 rotatably supported at the frontpart of the ram. At the ends of this shaft are a pair of cranks 3'7,each having its plane of rotation just outside of the adjacent sidemember of the ram. It is the horizontal component of the rotarymovements of these cranks which is effective for swinging the shovel andthe shovel supporting arms 16 back and forth over the machine throughdevices which positively actuate the shovel supporting arms as theyswing upwardly and rearwardly, or forwardly and downwardly. In thisinstance the free ends of these cranks are connected by links or arms 38to the shovel suppor ing and actuating arms 16, the connections of thelinks being made to the arms at the junction of the portions 16 and 16thereof. The rear portions of the links 38 have slots 39, the slottedportions of the links projecting beyond the points of attachment to thearms 1.6. The pins 40 connecting the arms and the links have squaredportions or members 41, which may slide in the slots 39, but thesemembers are pressed forwardly and held against the forward ends of theslots by a stifl coil spring 42, seated in the slots of the links asshown in Fig. 1.

As the cranks are rotated from the position shown in Fig. 1,to aposition 180 from that shown, they swing the shovel from in front of themachine upwardly and rearwardly to dumping position at the rear of thelatter, and as they return to the positions shown in Fig. 1, the shovelis positively returned to digging position. As the loaded shovel isswung from its lowermost position upwardly in front of the machine, theleverage through which the loaded shovel acts is at a maximum, but atthis time the links are at right angles, or substantially at rightangles to the short portions 16 of thefshovel supporting arms 16, andhence the conditions are such that during this time maximum turningeffort or torque is exerted on the rotating arms 16, and astlie shovelswings toward the vertical position the leverage through which theshovel acts is gradually reduced, but as this takes place the effectiveleverage through which the links transmit turning eftort to the arms isgradually reduce-fl. the torque or turning effort increasing anddecreasing substantially as the effective leverage of the shovelincreases and decreases. This is a condition that is highly desirable ina machine of this kind to obtain eiliciencv and smoothness of operation.1

The cranks may be rotated, and preferably are rotated in the samedirection to swing the shovel and shovel arms both rearwardly andforwardly, although by em ploying a reversing motor the cranks could beswung in one direction to bring the shovel to dumping position, and thecranks could be swung in the opposite direction to return the shovel todigging position. The continuous movement is preferable since the shovelcould be started on its return movement at the end of the rearwardswinging movement without either stopping or reversing the motor.

lit the front of the ram 1 provide stops 43, which the shovel arms 16are adapted to engage to limit the downward movement of the shovel andto determine the digging depth. These stops 43 are in the form of armspivoted intermediate their ends at 44, the outer free ends of these armsbeing adapted to be engaged by the shovel arms 16. The inner ends of thestop arms e3 are connected to a spring restrained plunger 44 carried bya bracket 45 adjustably secured to the front cross member of the ram. Byadjusting the position of the bracket 45, the downward movement of theshovel can be terminated at any desired position, depending upon thedepth which it is desired that the shovel dig. As the shovel arms onswinging downwardly engage the outer free ends of the arms d8, thespring surrounding the stem of the plunger a l yields so as to absorbthe shock incident to the stopping of the swinging movement. lVhen theshovel reaches digging position, the motor 31 is usually stopped. If thestop arms are so positioned that the downward movement of the shovel isterminated before the crank arms reach the horizontal position shown inFig. 1, it is obvious that when the motor is started and the arms areswung through the horizontal or dead center position, since the arms 16are rest-rained against further downward movement, there is a sliding action between the links and the pins 40 which connect the links to thearms, the springs 43 then being slightly compressed.

It will be apparent that both the reciprocating and the swingingmovements may be imparted to the shovel simultaneously or successively.In filling the shovel simply the ram actuating motor may be operated, orif desired, both motors may be operated at the same time, in which eventthe shovel will have a combined forward and upward swinging movement,and in moving the shovel to dumping position the ram may be firstretracted and then the shovel may be swung over the machine, or bothmovements may be imparted simultaneously. The operation of the machineis thought to be obvious without further explanation. It will beapparent that the machine embodies to a high degree the features ofefliciency and simplicity, the efficiency being due in large part to thefact that the torque imparted to the shovel supporting arms increasesand de creases substantially proportionately to the leverage throughwhich the shovel is being swung, while the principal factor in theattainment of the advantage of the simplicity resides in the fact thatthe shovel is direct connected to the ram, and not to a part which movesforwardly and rearwardly with respect thereto, and alsr to the fact thatthe turning movement imparted to the shovel arms through a straigl'itlink connection through the motor operated actuating parts, in thisinstance the cranks, which move forwardly and rearwardly with referenceto the ram.

Another feature to be noted is the fact that gravity is not relied on toreturn the parts to normal position, but the shovel and its supportingarms are positively actuated at all times while being swung from eitherextreme position to the other. Furthermore the construction 1i. haveherein illus conducive to smoothness of operation not only because ofthe graduated or varying character of the turning effort exerted on theshovel supporting arms, but also to the fact that the actuatingmechanism is such that it is not liable to get out of order or to beclogged or choked by dirt or other for eign matter which may drop fromthe shovel.

lVhile I have shown only one embodiment of my invention it is obviousthat certain changes may be made in details of the parts. such the typeand manner of COHIICCt-lilfl' the motors to the parts which theyactuate, straight line or reciprocating motors beingiwell adapted foruse in the machine, and I therefore aim in my clain'is to cover all motifica-tions which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scopeof my invention in its broadestaspects. 4

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a loading machine, a frame, a shovel actuating member supported.by the frame and movable forwardly and rearwardly, a shovel adapted tobe filled at the front of the machine and to be swung upwardly andrearwardly over the same to dumping position, an arm connecting theshovel to said member, a link connected to said arm for swinging thesame relative to said member. and means for actuating the link.

2. In a loading machine of the type having a shovel adapted to be filledwith material at the front of the machine and to be swung over themachine to dumping position, a frame, a motor operated ram movableforwardly and rearwardly with respect to the frame, shovel supportingarms connecting the shovel and the ram, actuating links connected to thearms to turn the same relative to the ram, and means carried by the ramfor moving the links forwardly and rearwardly.

3. in a loading machine of the type having a shovel adapted to be filledwith ma terial at the front of the machine and to he Wlillg over themachine to dumping position, a frame, a reciprocating ram movableforwardlyand rearwardly with respect to the frame, a shovel, armsconnecting the shovel to the ram, links for turning the arms connectedto the latter, and means for actuating the links to impart turningmovement to the arms, the connections between the links and the armsbeing at points displaced from a straight line extending be tween thepoints of attachment of the arms to the ram and shovel.

4:. in a loading machine of the type having a shovel adapted to befilled with material at the front of the machine and to be swung overthe machine to dumping posi tion, a frame, a ram movable forwardly andrearwardly with respect to the frame, a shovel, arms pivoted to the ramand connected to the shovel, links connected to the arms, means foractuating the links to swing the arms on their pivoted points, said armshaving an' ularly disposed portions, and the links being connected tothe arms between their ends.

5. in a loading machine of the type having a shovel adapted to be filledwith ma terial at the front of the machine and to be swung over themachine to dumping position, a frame, a ram movable forwardly andrearwardly with respect to the frame, a shovel, arms pivoted to the ramand connected to the shovel, links connected to the arms, means foractuating the links to swing the arms on their pivoted points, said armsbeing substantially L-shaped, and the links being connected theretobetween the ends of the latter.

6. In a loading machine of the type having a shovel adapted to be filledwith material at the front of the machine and to be swung over themachine to dumping position, a frame, a ram movable forwardly andrearwardly with respect to the frame, a shovel, arms pivoted to the ramand connected to the shovel, links connected to the arms, means foractuating the links to swing the arms on their pivoted points, said armsbeing composed of angularly disposed portions, and the links beingconnected to the arms at substantially the junction of said portions.

7. In a loading machine, a frame, a carriage movable back and forthalong the frame, a shovel, a shovel supporting arm pivotally connectedto the carriage and attached to the shovel, and means carried by thecarriage for moving the shovel back and forth from filling to dumpingposition and comprising an actuating arm connected to the shovelsupporting arm.

8. In a loading machine, a reciprocable carriage, a shovel supportingarm pivotally connected to the carriage, a shovel attached to the arm,means for actuating the carriage to impart a filling stroke to theshovel, and means for moving the shovel to dumping position andreturning the shovel to filling position comprising a rotatable crankarm having a link connection with said shovel supporting arm.

9. In a loading machine, a carriage, a substantially L-shaped shovelsupporting arm pivotally connected to the carriage at one end, a shovelattached to the free end of the arm, a link attached to the L-shapedshovel supporting arm substantially at the bend thereof, and means foractuating said link to swing said arm about its pivot.

10. In a loading machine, a carriage, a shovel, a shovel supporting armpivoted at one end to the carriage and attached at its free end to theshovel, said arm being movable about its pivot to carry the shovel fromfilling to dumpingposition and having part thereof at all times abovethe pivot, an actuating arm pivoted on the carriage, and a linkconnecting said actuating arm to the part of the shovel supporting armabove the pivot.

11. In a loading machine, a carriage, means for moving the carriage backand forth, a shovel supporting arm pivoted to the carriage, a shovelconnected to the free end of the arm and adapted to be swung; over thecarriage to dumping position, and actuating means on the carriage forswinging the shovel supporting arm about its pivot, said actuating meanshaving a yieldable connection with said shovel supporting arm.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afdx my signature.

nonnnr 1 GREENLEAF.

